1. Field
This application relates generally to communication and more specifically, but not exclusively, to improving communication performance by adapting handover parameters.
2. Introduction
A wireless communication network is deployed over a defined geographical area to provide various types of services (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to users within that geographical area. In a typical implementation, access points (e.g., corresponding to different cells) are distributed throughout a network to provide wireless connectivity for access terminals (e.g., cell phones) that are operating within the geographical area served by the network. In general, at a given point in time, the access terminal will be served by a given one of these access points. As the access terminal roams throughout this geographical area, the access terminal may move away from its serving access point and move closer to another access point. In addition, signal conditions within a given cell may change, whereby an access terminal may be better served by another access point. In these cases, to maintain mobility for the access terminal, the access terminal may be handed-over from its serving access point to the other access point.
Preferably, handover occurs without any loss or disruption to the current communications path. In practice, however, various handover failures may occur. Such failures may include, for example, radio link failures (RLFs) and call drops. Some of these failures relate to handover parameters that may be manually configured or improperly controlled. When these parameters are not optimally configured, handover failures can occur. These failures may generally fall in to four main categories: 1) handovers that occur too early; 2) handovers that occur too late; 3) handovers that are not triggered properly; and 4) handovers that bounce back and forth between access points (which is sometimes referred to as “ping-ponging”).